13 Days of Christmas
by godcomplexLoading
Summary: A bit of holiday silliness. A simple question spurs one of Sarah's friends to take on the role of "Secret Santa" in the thirteenth day before one of the biggest days of the year. Updated daily, if weather permits. (Weather is not permitting. Updated seasonally)
1. The Day Before Christmas

**Disclaimer:** In no way do I own Labyrinth or any related media. This idea, too, has been used and reused many times before, and my spin on it is something I take pride in but take no claim to. A tip of the tophat to Jim Hensen and co. for this delightful creation.

**Summary: **"Do goblins do anything for Christmas?" This simple question started Sarah on a thirteen-day adventure in her own home, discovering gift upon gift from an Underground Secret Santa. A bit of silliness for the holiday season.

**Author's Note: **I have overcome time, technical difficulties, writer's block, and insecurities to bring this story to you. In no way is this my best work, or my most entertaining. I just thought it was a super sweet idea and, well. Who doesn't love a Secret Santa story? :)

* * *

On the Day Before Christmas

"Do goblins do anything for Christmas?"

Sarah hadn't realized she'd asked the question out loud until she saw the confusion reflected in her friends' faces in the mirror. It had been a private musing, just something to occupy her thoughts while they debated behind her, but evidently her mind had been too curious and her mouth had run away from her. Now that she had said it, though, she was eager to hear their answer. She turned around to face them, her arm hanging over the back of the chair.

The question was met with a series of blank stares and agape mouths.

Hoggle scratched his head. "Eh…Christmas?" he repeated, and she decided that the answer to her question would be a definite "no". As she searched their faces, she knew that not one of them had any idea what she was talking about. Quickly, she searched her mind for a way to define the iconic holiday in a way they would understand.

"Christmas, it's a…winter festival...celebration. Well, not a festival. A _holiday_," she suggested, finally pinning down a definition. "It's to celebrate the birth of someone who—" But as she prepared to embark on that explanation, she saw the clouded eyes and vacant expressions that meant they were preparing themselves for a long lecture that, by the end of, would leave them more confused than before. She decided for their sakes to skip over the origin and go straight to the celebration. "You give gifts to those you care about, and you…I dunno." She shrugged. "You celebrate. Throw a party." She thought about some other things they did. She thought of one tradition they may like, being goblins and all, and smiled. "There's a game called 'Secret Santa', or 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' where you send someone a present every day for twelve days, and at the end of that time, they have to guess who it was that sent them their presents."

Ludo looked excited at that prospect. "Ludo present," he announced and tried to get up, smacking his head against the ceiling in the process.

"Oh, Ludo, I'll get you all presents for Christmas!" she exclaimed, standing up to somehow prevent the monster from wrecking her bedroom or attracting her parents. "Of course I'll get you presents!"

That seemed to pacify him somewhat, and he sat back down, still mumbling and fidgeting excitedly. She turned completely around, facing them. The Christmas spirit was contagious, and she had been feeling a bit giddy these last few days. She wanted to share the feeling with her friends. Goblings loved that kind of thing, right? Secrecy and flair and mystery and riddles. She chanced a glance to the window, but the flurries of snow that had prompted this train of thought hid any traces she might have seen of Jareth. He didn't hang around as much as the others did, but she still felt compelled to look for him, either out of affection or paranoia.

"So…this Secret Santa…what kind of presents do they leave?" Hoggle asked, looking more than slightly interested in the subject.

"You know…little things. Trinkets, knick-knacks…there's a song about it," she suggested, but decided against singing it for them. They might take it _literally_, and that was the _last_ thing she needed.


	2. On The First Day of Christmas

**Summary: **"Do goblins do anything for Christmas?" This simple question started Sarah on a thirteen-day adventure in her own home, discovering gift upon gift from an Underground Secret Santa. A bit of silliness for the holiday season.

**Author's Note:** *guilty* Okay, so I think I jumped the gun. Due to a simple math error and a misunderstanding as to which day of the month is our Christmas day, I published "The Day Before Christmas" a day early. My humble apologies. But the errors have been fixed, and here you have it, the first in our thirteen days together!

* * *

On the First Day of Christmas

It was cold. That was the first thing that Sarah knew when she woke up. She pulled the blankets closer around herself, and considered just staying in bed all day. That sounded nice. She could be lulled back to sleep by the not-so-subtle sound of the heater blasting her with warm air. But the sound of activity downstairs inspired some kind of juvenile excitement in her, something she felt would probably be experienced every year at Christmastime until the day she day. So she fell out of bed with all the speed and grace of a turtle on its back, pulling on a robe to ward off the chills.

Sarah yawned as she half-stumbled and half-ran down the stairs, making a stop to look in Toby's room as she did every morning. At first, she had done it out of paranoia, out of an irrational fear that, even though she had bested the King, he would come back for her brother. By the time it had become evident that no such thing would happen (he turned out to be not as quite as sore a loser as she'd thought), she'd already gotten used to the ritual, and Toby'd already gotten used to seeing her face every morning. She waved her fingers at the boy cheerfully, and he waved back with a childish giggle.

"Morning, Sarah…goodness, you crawled out early today, didn't you?"

Karen was unusually bright today. She was all smiles as Sarah came down the stairs. She took a step forward to embrace the teen, but quickly thought better of it, leaving herself standing awkwardly with her arms half raised. She settled for hesitantly resting one hand on the banister and resting the other on her hip. "Fetch Toby…there are some people coming over today for brunch, and you know how he loves to socialize!"

It was true; unlike Sarah, Toby loved to be around people, with all the noise and chaos and people paying attention to him. He'd become quite the attention whore, but he only tolerated it if Sarah was around to either hold him or let him sit in her lap. Sarah had never been a fan of her stepmother's social gatherings…she still wasn't. But she tolerated them more now, usually for Toby's sake. Her parents were happy to see her come out of her shell though, and she was, though she didn't like admitting it, happy to see them happy.

As Sarah headed for the stairs, Karen grabbed her arm. "Oh, Sarah, this arrived for you today!" she said, passing Sarah a little parcel. "It was on the front step…I had to save it from the cats next door. I didn't know you had such thoughtful friends!" Her whole face lit up at the prospect. The woman was absolutely delighted at the thought of Sarah being more social, though she had had several talks with her father to stop trying to push the girl so hard.

Before the habitual, "I don't" came out her mouth, Sarah looked at the package curiously. She didn't really have any friends that would do this, and she didn't remember ordering anything either.

The parcel was wrapped in plain brown wrapping, rather sloppily at that, tied with red string. That card had her name neatly printed, though, in large handwriting, but there was no return address or name. Humming lightly, she tucked it under her arm and headed upstairs to grab her brother. She ran past him to toss the package onto her bed, and when she came back for Toby, happily tossed it out of her mind as well.

**. . .**

Sarah sat up in her room, surrounded by her books and stuffed animals. She had only had to sit through half the dinner before Karen noticed her barely concealed yawns and restless fidgets, and lightly suggested that she head off to sleep, mumbling that she looked a bit peaky. Sarah was thankful to the woman for giving her the excuse, and had quickly fled upstairs after giving her a quick, awkward hug. She would never really get used to the stuffy atmosphere her parents' friends always seemed to drag with them, but she was grateful they at least let her escape. She'd put Toby to bed on her way upstairs, so there was no more reason to get out of bed tonight.

Now that she was here, though, she found there might not be anything better to do than sleep. The goblins were probably busy, and she didn't feel like having to deal with them anyway. She was too tired to wrangle them right now. But before she could stretch out and close her eyes, her eyes fell on the brown package she had discarded, lying innocent at the foot of her bed. Though the little parcel had evaded her interest before, now her curiosity was piqued and she couldn't help but wonder who had sent it. She didn't have any friends in the human world close enough to do this kind of thing for her.

Maybe…the goblins? She remembered how avidly they had listened while she weaved tales of Christmas and she even remembered, with a slight shudder, the brief glimpse of a huge owl sitting outside her window as she spoke, his eyes fixed on her intently. She snorted immediately and tossed _that _idea away. She didn't think that _he'd_ try something like this. He had done some pretty strange things in the years since she had last truly _seen_ him, including leaving her small gifts now and then. Maybe this Christmas thing wasn't too far beyond him.

Sighing, she supposed that the only way to find out was to open it, right? She reached out and picked it up, holding it up. There was still no sign of who had gotten it for her…not a scent left behind or a scrap of hair or a smudge of make-up or anything. No matter how many times she turned it over in her hands, nothing changed or leapt out. Figured.

Finally, she could stand the suspense, and ripped the package open, mercilessly tearing away the multiple layers of brown paper. She tossed the discarded paper halfheartedly at a forgotten trash bin in the corner, leaving the trash to disappear forever in the black hole that was her bedroom floor.

When the last scrap fell away, she found herself holding a tiny box, longer than her hand and thinner than her finger. It was made of wood, with gold strands folded into an ornate pattern across the top. There was a little gold clasp that was slightly bent, and took a few tries to open. She finally got it open and lifted out a little strip of tough leather…a bookmark. She turned it over in her hands, dropping the box.

It was nothing fancy. A small charm hung off of the end and, when she looked at it closer, she couldn't help laughing. A small fairy, captured in glittering silver, smiled up at her, a now quite amusing imitation of what she knew the real thing to be. But it really was a beautiful present…especially considering how she loved reading. Even after she had returned from the Labyrinth, Sarah's nose was always in a book, though that pretty little red one remained her favorite. This bookmark would look lovely, she thought, poking out of the bright red cover.

Once the initial glamour wore off, Sarah gave the present the same scrutiny she had given its package, desperate for some hint or sign of who had given her the little trinket. She looked in the box for a note or card, but found nothing. She hurriedly put it back, almost snapping the clasp off in her haste. She shoved it under her pillow and, now fully curious and excited, bounced over to her mirror and gazed into it deeply. It seemed to be the only way to call them, at least for the moment.

She waited until things had settled down downstairs before calling her friends. As usual, they brought a few extra goblins. The little things were always getting into mischief around her house and, as much fun as she thought they were, sometimes they got a bit difficult to control. Luckily, the lack of energy that had rendered her unwilling to handle her goblin friends had vanished completely. She managed to get them all calmed down enough to show the ones she had _actually invited_ her new treasure. She searched their faces first for any signs of gloating, but saw nothing.

"I actually got one," she announced. "A present!" She watched their faces carefully, but saw nothing but the same look of surprise all across the board. Darn. She was kind of hoping that one of them would give themselves away and this whole mystery would be solved. She considered bringing it out to show them, but she still felt that childish possessiveness Christmas inspired in everyone.

Actually, the more she thought about it, the more that revelation delighted her. It wouldn't have been fun if it was too easy, would it? She would be watching very carefully for the next few days…it _had_ to be one of them!

"My lady! That would mean that some person holds you in such high regards!" Didymus suggested, tapping his chin with his sword thoughtfully. "A secret admirer, or an amazing friend, perhaps?" There was a twinkle in his eye, but it was not from knowledge or anything of the sort. She wondered if Didymus was a good enough actor to hold on for all twelve days. He was so excitable he might blow it.

"Sarah friend," Ludo agreed. This statement seemed to be different than his usual declaration, agreeing with Didymus rather than stating his own relationship with the human. She scrutinized the beast next, but his face gave away nothing at all. He could easily pull it off, she thought, but how could he have left the present without arousing too much suspicion?

She bit her lip. She couldn't help casting a look outside, but she saw no flash of white feathers. Hmm. She looked back at her friends, trying to gauge which of them was most likely to have done it.

"Where's Hoggle?" she asked suddenly, realizing that her favorite of the goblins was not present. In his place was a tiny lady goblin with too much make-up and an extremely bright dress fashioned from doilies and handkerchiefs. She waved with a delighted cackle before diving off the edge of the bed and dissolving into a pile of dirty rags. Sarah blinked and looked away, waiting for an answer.

"The King sent him off on some daring quest!" Didymus announced, his voice both chipper and chill with jealousy. "Fighting off an infestation of fiendish fairies!" He began to grumble too low for her to hear, though she picked up enough to know that he was wishing that Jareth had sent _him_ to hunt fairies instead.

"Sarah?" A knock came at the door. She blinked, and as the door opened, every goblin vanished into piles of dirty clothes and children's toys. Her father's head poked in carefully, as if he expected her to throw something at him. "Sarah? Karen put in a movie and I've started some popcorn and cocoa. Toby's already asleep, but, do you want to…join us?"

Her father had asked her this question every year for years, and every since she was ten, she'd rejected the offer. But right now…right now, there was nothing she wanted more. Her smile widened and she practically hopped across the room.

"I'll be right out!" she promised, feeling very Christmas-y all of a sudden.


	3. On The Second Day of Christmas

**Summary: **"Do goblins do anything for Christmas?" This simple question started Sarah on a thirteen-day adventure in her own home, discovering gift upon gift from an Underground Secret Santa. A bit of silliness for the holiday season.

**Author's Note: **I said daily, and that was the plan, but a 104 plus fever and a computer that doesn't work take precedence over fanfiction, unfortunately, and then, when I finally got my laptop back, half of this story was gone, so. These are, to my chagrin, sloppy seconds of what was originally quite a cute fic.

* * *

On the Second Day of Christmas

"You seem pretty excited this morning, Sarah!"

Sarah looked up from her plate of food, her mouth still full. "Hm?" A few crumbs fell from her face, and she realized with chagrin that her face was covered in eggs and toast.

The behavior normally would have gotten her in trouble, but her father just threw back his head and laughed. "Ah, Christmas brings out the little kid in all of us, doesn't it?" Toby joined him in laughing, though he looked constantly at Karen or Sarah for confirmation at just what was so funny. A few forced giggles from the women encouraged his giggles to turn into full peals of laughter.

Shaking her head at the boys' behavior, Karen turned back to Sarah. "You _do_ seem happier this morning, Sarah. Was it that present yesterday?" she asked, her eyes sparkling with hidden mischief and delight.

Sarah hesitated briefly before answering, not sure how much she could reveal. "Yeah. I'm still trying to figure out which of my…_friends_ sent it." Suddenly getting an idea, she looked around the _table_ now, wondering suddenly if perhaps it was one of them who had given her the bookmark. Though she had assumed the reference to the fairy would only have been understood by her goblin friends, anyone at this table would know enough about her and her love of fantasy to have guessed she would have loved it.

But, much like when she'd tried to figure out which of her goblins had done it, there was nothing giving anything away in the faces of her family, and she realized she would probably have to wait out the duration of these twelve days.

"Well whoever it was," Karen said, sighing and shaking her head. "They got a bit over-excited, I should think! Started too early! Your twelfth day is going to be interesting!"

"What do you mean?" Sarah blinked. She hadn't bothered counting days, really.

Karen looked at her as if she had just lost her mind. "Well, they sent your first present a day _early_, dear…if they continue on to the end like this, it'll be _thir_teen days of Christmas!" Chuckling at her mysterious friend's folly, Karen completely missed the expression of shock and excitement on Sarah's face. She reached out to ask Sarah's father to pass the salt, and promptly forgot the subject.

_Thirteen days!_

It _had_ to be one of the goblins, now she was sure of it. Thirteen hours, thirteen days…they had a thing for the number thirteen. The unlucky number.

"Well, no matter, I'm sure it'll be fun anyway!" Karen sighed again. "By the end of it all, I should like to meet your Secret Santa, Sarah, you should bring them over to see us when you figure out who it is!"

Sarah smiled, but she wondered just how difficult that could prove to be.

"Now, finish your breakfast. The Kings' party starts this afternoon, and I promised Janet we would be there. She is very eager to meet you and Toby!"

Sarah groaned, but, after seeing her father's expression, concealed the noise behind a quiet belch. "Excuse me," she muttered, sliding off her chair. "I'm done. I'll go get dressed." She grabbed her plate; they hated it when she left her dishes at the table, though it was one of her hardest habits to break.

"Take Toby with you, dear. Make sure you put in him that nice suit, the one your grandmother sent last year!" Karen asked. "You can leave your plate, if you like. Your father will clean the table."

As if he sensed what that meant, Toby let out a gurgle of protest, but didn't kick or punch when Sarah picked him up. She bounced him a few times on her hip. How he'd ended up being so quiet and complacent, she would never know. His little jaunt Underground had seemed to have mellowed him out some…in some ways. He was so much more curious now, and still just as ornery. He was just…quieter about it.

With the baby in her arms, Sarah couldn't race up the steps at her usual breakneck speed, and actually felt a bit impatience as she opened Toby's door. She put him in his crib, lowering the side to allow him freedom, and went to his closet. She liked to think it was goblin laughter she heard when she opened the door, but it may very well have been Toby behind her. She heard the thumps and rustles that betrayed him playing with his toys.

As she rifled through his little hanging suits, Sarah chuckled to herself. Who made such fancy, stifling clothes for _babies_? True, Toby wasn't _that_ young, but he was too young to be wearing full suits with the shiny shoes and gloves. Luckily, this particular suit seemed tailored to a child's active lifestyle. She untangled it from his other suits and got to dressing him.

It wasn't until she was halfway done with the job that she realized the reason she was having such trouble getting him into it was because that tucked through his bottomless left pocket was a little package very similar to the one she'd found the day before. She stared at it in excitement, only returning to Toby when his fist collided with the top of her head impatiently. Murmuring apologies, she resumed dressing him, finding it now much easier to pull the jacket around him.

The party wasn't one Sarah could get out of; the Kings had a daughter around her age and a boy a bit younger than Toby, so she couldn't duck out with the excuse of no social excitement. Of course, all of said children didn't care for each other, but that wouldn't stop their parents. Sarah spent the night either trailing after Karen, responding as best she could to social cues, or watching Toby run around in the snowy backyard, occasionally joining him for a short snowball fight. They were halfway through a snowman about Toby's height when Toby fell asleep, snoring against the white tower's side, and Sarah finally had an excuse to go home. They were close enough that she could walk, and she said she didn't mind carrying him the whole way.

It was snowing lightly on her walk home, but Sarah didn't feel too chilly. Toby snuggled against her, tucked inside her big coat, and the lamps she walked past gave off what was probably an unhealthy amount of heat. Her thought turned from the party to Toby to goblins to the parcel half-forgotten on her bed. She was excited, wondering what it could be. Perhaps there would be some kind of clue as to who it was, but, thinking back, she hadn't explained _that_ part to them.

She ran over what she _had_ told them, and tried to match up which one was more likely to do it, but her accusations just went in circles, and by the time she tromped up the stairs, she was no closer to the truth.

Merlin sat on the porch, looking dejected. She'd forgotten to put him in the garage before she'd left, but he was such a wimp that he'd probably stayed on the porch the whole time, completely untouched by snow or dirt. She looked back to make sure no car was following her, and stepped aside to let the dog inside.

"Don't tell Karen," she whispered. "And _don't_ trail anything around. She'll kill me if she finds out you were let in."

She left the dog in the living room by the fire and put Toby to bed, staying with him in the few moments between when she put him down and the blissful second he fell completely back to sleep. She let Merlin stay a few more minutes before letting him out into the garage, ignoring his puppy dog eyes and leaping up to her room. She slammed the door without thinking about it, and had to make sure Toby was still asleep before she hopped onto the bed and tore into the plain brown paper to find a thin box even longer but thinner than the one before. Perhaps another bookmark? A safe but disappointing second gift, she supposed.

The clasp of this box was in slightly better condition, and was a bit easier to open. What she pulled out was now a bookmark, however…it was a feather. A white feather, to be specific, with a few brown bars slicing the soft fibers. Closer inspection revealed that this was not simply a feather…the metal tip, white was slightly bent but still ornately crafted, glinted softly, and she grinned. A quill. She tested it, holding it as countless books and movies had instructed her to do. Content, she sat back. She had no ink to use it with, but she was sure she could change that.

Sarah fell asleep with the feather resting across her breast. While she slept, a shadow fell over her, and a satisfied, delighted smile spread over grotesque features.


	4. On The Third Day of Christmas

**Summary: **"Do goblins do anything for Christmas?" This simple question started Sarah on a thirteen-day adventure in her own home, discovering gift upon gift from an Underground Secret Santa. A bit of silliness for the holiday season.

**Author's Note: **I've got nothing better to do than write, so let's get on with it! There's no chance of catching up and getting on track, but may as well still give you your Labyrinth Christmas fix! Can anyone try to make any guesses as to who her Secret Santa is? Hmm? Any guesses?

This chapter was done hesitantly and with extreme trepidation, as another thing I seem to have forgotten is exactly what Sarah's bridge happens to look like. And, with YouTube failing to garner instant results, I am forced to merely guess. Please forgive any unintentional mistakes.

* * *

On the Third Day of Christmas

Sarah yawned and pushed herself out of bed, running her fingers through her hair. She immediately regretted both actions. It was almost colder today than it was yesterday! Once again, she resisted the urge to just stay in bed, but today it was the idea of breakfast that prompted her to leave. Her stomach rumbled and whatever Karen had whipped up would likely be amazing. The holiday season brought out the best of the woman.

She immediately shivered as she left the warmth of her bed, almost jumping back into the shelter of her bed again. She caught her quill as it drifted down from her front, smiling and leaving it lying in a pretty position on her vanity. She put its box in a pile of similar items on the floor.

She grabbed the nearest article of clothing and pulled it on, not caring how ridiculous she now looked wearing two long-sleeved shirts, jeans, and a bathrobe.

The clock announced the time at a little after 10.

The house was strangely silent and free of breakfast-y smells as she stepped out, but Sarah was too distracted at first to notice a thing out of place. She didn't quite have her usual breakneck speed this morning, her limbs taken by demonic shivers that made her legs shake like jello and her feet feel like blocks of icy lead. She stopped to hop in place a few times and wondered why Karen wasn't scolding her for making such a ruckus on the stairs.

She peeked in on Toby, but his room was empty. His crib was made, the blankets flat, and all of his toys were lying forgotten around the room. Fighting down the initial panic at the sight, she quickly headed downstairs. A note on the table told her that everyone had gone out to another party without her, and she struggled to shake off the fear. It was stupid anyway ,wasn't it? _He'd_ been watching her for a while now, and he'd never once made any move towards Toby. She had long been content with the knowledge that her brother was safe.

_We'll be back around noon. I didn't think you'd want to come, so I convinced Karen to let you sleep in. Love, Dad_

Smiling at how thoughtful her father could be, she wandered into the kitchen and poured herself some cereal. She ate in the kitchen, staring out the window at the continuously falling snow. Barely anything moved outside, and it looked like most people were holed up inside. Whatever party they were at, Sarah was sure her family was the same. No sane person would go outside right now.

"Right."

She dropped her bowl rather roughly into the sink and ran upstairs, this time pushing her still frozen body to get some blood flowing. The urge to go outside and play was too great to ignore…with all that snow all over, the streets didn't even look like they were of this world. Who could resist something like that?

But as she began to pull on layer after layer of clothes, she caught sight of the pile of brown paper discarded on the floor. She stopped in her tracks, and narrowed her eyes at the trash. She hadn't seen any sign of a present today…would it come later? She weighed in her head…go outside, or search the house.

Her decision was surprisingly quick, and Sarah was downstairs and out the door in record time. The snow crunched under her probably too-light boots, but she was protected from the immediate chill by her copious layers. She stood on the bottom step for just a moment or two, then set out. She wasn't quite sure where she was going, but she knew where she would end up.

The little bridge in the park. A frequent place of hers, though decidedly less frequent now that it was cold enough for her to lose some toes. She was careful as she got closer, looking for ice. It probably would have been smarter to bring Merlin along, but he probably would have just sat down and watched her fall. He wasn't much help when it came to serious things. He more often accompanied her as an extra in the show.

It took Sarah a meticulous ten minutes to get onto the bridge, and another five to get to the middle, and at least seven were devoted to finding a way to sit on the ledge without plummeting the short drop to the frozen stream below. She finally settled down and just watched the world, each snowflake bringing to mind a story. Many days had been spent here, imagining herself in fantastical situations and acting out impractical scenarios. She'd thought perhaps her jaunt into the Labyrinth would've sated those appetites, but no such luck. Now that she knew they were possible, she just craved them more.

Of course, hunting for adventure was exhausting, and she somehow always found herself here, in her place of greatest fantasy, sitting and watching the world work in its perfectly ordinary fashion. There was absolutely nothing wrong with this, her secret normal.

Sarah absently ran her hands over the stones of her bridge…and encountered something unfamiliar. She had caressed these stones countless times in times of duress and distress and despair. She knew every bump and crack, or she felt she did. Of course, she had learned to take nothing for granted, and it seemed a bit odd to her that one of the stones might in fact be _backwards_.

"Even out here?" she marveled, immediately sliding carefully onto the bridge and kneeling before the offending bump. She ran her hands over it eagerly, shoveling snow clumsily with mittened hands. A laugh echoed in the silence of the park and was swallowed up: there was a bow drawn on the stone in red lipstick. "What are you hiding?" she whispered eagerly, unconsciously looking around as if the culprit may still be lurking about.

Now that she had uncovered the stone, she scraped at the edges a few times before giving into the unnecessary and the merely convenient, ripping off her mittens to pry at the edges of the stone and lift if from its place carefully. She got it up after a few tries, and immediately pulled her mittens on before doing a thing more.

In a hollow on the bridge, a hollow she hadn't even known to exist, was another package. Not plain brown like before, though…the wrapping paper was still dull, but there were little black stars dotting the paper now. The ribbon was faded red and fringed with frost that fell in a brief cascade when she picked it up. She tucked it into her coat, wincing at the crinkle of crushed paper. She looked around to make sure no one was giving her funny looks. After several tries, she managed to replace the stone, and then backed away, all concern for safety forgotten. She turned and began to bolt as fast as she could for home.

Of course, with her newfound daring, it was several falls and a few extra minutes to nurse bruised skin and broken dignity before she got home again. Concern for her step-mother's carpet left her outside for a few more minutes, stomping off the extra snow and chill, and only half the articles that left the house made it back in.

She must have been out longer than she thought…she walked through the doorway straight into her father's arms, who used the opportunity to steal a rare embrace. Sarah let out a yelp of protest and surprise as the breath was squeezed out of her in an uncharacteristic display of affection.

"What was that?" she asked, brushing herself off and gasping for breath.

"Better than a kiss!" he laughed, pointing up at the poorly placed sprig of green above their heads. "Step back…maybe I can catch your mother!" He was so caught up in the spirit that he didn't notice the title, nor did he notice Sarah's lack of response to it.

Grinning, she stepped back. "You enjoyed the party, I guess?" she asked, only half listening for an answer. She was already halfway up the stairs, and gave an energetic thumbs up to his distant response before her door slammed closed and she threw herself onto the bed, which was stone cold in her absence. Her body slid awkwardly into hollows left by bodies much smaller than her own, and she fished her package out of her jacket.

She briefly considered calling the goblins again, but again decided privacy was part of what made it so magical. She tore away the paper, perhaps with a bit too much zeal, and when all was said and done held a dark brown book in her hands. The cover had no words, but the front was decorated with a small grotesque face. It nagged at her memory and she stared at it until she remembered and grinned.

She reached out with one finger and scratched at the little ring that hung off with her finger, a bit disappointed it didn't move.

"It's very rude to stare!" she said in her best impression of the notable door knocker. She turned the book over in the same manner she had the box it had come in, but it had no more distinguishing features. It was dark and seemingly crafted from leather. The pages, when she finally dared to open it, were blank and flesh-colored.

A note fell out of the front, and she picked it up, excited to finally have something from her mysterious gift-giver. But there was no riddle or clue, no signature or triumphant message. She didn't recognize the handwriting, which was large and round.

_Look in your pocket. You forgot this!_

Curious, Sarah dug through _all_ her pockets, and finally pulled something out of her jeans. It was a little squat vial, and when she shook it, she heard liquid inside. She pulled the stopper carefully, and a strong smell immediately wafted around the room. She grinned and thought of her quill, lonely without its matching accessory.

_Ink_!


End file.
